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US 11,923,208 B2Granted
Methods and apparatuses for chemical delivery for brush conditioning
AssigneeIllinois Tool Works Inc.
InventorsBradley Scott Withers, Corey Alan Hughes, Erik Scott Nelson, Steven Kenneth Christie, Brent Allan Best
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided is disclosure for embodiments providing delivery of chemicals for conditioning a brush offline, where the brush is not coupled to a machine that makes use of the brush to clean a surface of an object.
Claims21
An offline brush conditioning system configured to condition a brush via a conditioning process, the offline brush conditioning system comprising:
- a conditioning surface;
- a brush holding device configured to hold the brush;
- a conduit configured to receive a chemical from a source for delivery of the chemical to one or both of the brush and the conditioning surface;
- a first outflow conduit configured to expel effluent associated with a first section of the brush during a conditioning process;
- a second outflow conduit configured to expel effluent associated with a second section of the brush during the conditioning process;
- a plurality of sensors, wherein a first sensor is configured to generate feedback data reflecting a characteristic of effluent in the chemical from each of the first outflow conduit and the second outflow conduit and a second sensor is configured to monitor a torque output of a motor during the conditioning process;
- and
- a controller operable coupled to the plurality of sensors and configured to control the offline brush conditioning system,
- wherein:
- the controller is configured to adjust the conditioning process based on the feedback data of each of the first outflow conduit corresponding to the first section of the brush, the second outflow conduit corresponding to the second section of the brush, and the torque output,
- the conditioning surface and the brush are configured to contact each other for conditioning of the brush,
- the controller is configured to verify a concentricity of the brush using a measurement from the second sensor reflecting the torque output;
- the controller is configured to determine when the conditioning process is finished using the feedback data of each of the first outflow conduit, the second outflow conduit, and
- when the controller determines that the conditioning process is finished, the controller is configured to provide an alert indicating that the brush is to be removed from the brush holding device.
11 more elements
An offline brush conditioning system configured to condition a plurality of brushes, the offline brush conditioning system comprising:
- a first brush holding device configured to hold a first brush in contact with a first conditioning surface;
- a second brush holding device configured to hold a second brush in contact with a second conditioning surface
- a barrier configured to isolate the first brush from the second brush to mitigate cross-contamination during a conditioning process;
- a conduit configured to receive a chemical from a source for delivery of the chemical to a manifold, wherein the manifold is configured to deliver, during the conditioning process, the chemical to (1) the first brush or the first conditioning surface and (2) second brush or the second conditioning surface;
- and
- a controller operably coupled to a plurality of sensors and configured to:
- adjust the conditioning process based on feedback data from a first sensor of the plurality of sensors for one or more outflow conduits, each of the one or more outflow conduits corresponding to a section of each of the first and second brushes and torque output of a motor from a second sensor of the plurality of sensors,
- determine when the conditioning process is finished for each of the first brush and second brush using the feedback data from each of the first and second sensors, and
- verify a concentricity of each of the first brush and the second brush using a measurement from the second sensor reflecting the torque output.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.